Lancashire and Cumbria LMC and Leeds LMC both sought to reassure their members, in light of the remarks.

Lancashire and Cumbria LMC chair Dr Peter Weeks said that the ‘threats and bullying on such a scale and gravity’ were ‘sickening’, while blaming ‘an overburdened, struggling, understaffed workforce for the failings of the system is shameful’.

He wrote to local GPs: ‘Thank you for the daily work and grind you do. Thank you for the visit you did on your way home at 8 o’clock. Thank you for the extra mile you went to make sure that patient you knew cared

‘Thank you for being a dedicated professional who excels at their job in the most difficult of circumstances and working within the most challenging environment. We know the pressure you are under, we know how hard you work in the most frustrating of times, we know you do it not for the money but because you do care.'

He said: ‘Thank you for being there when other services are limiting what they do, and for all the work you do which isn't even yours but passed to you from elsewhere but which you do because it is in the best interest of your patients.’

He added: ‘When the focus is all too often on A&E and hospitals, it’s all too easy to forget that GP practices are the foundation of the NHS and that you are as busy, hardworking and dedicated as everyone else doing their best to keep the NHS going.’